Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
The Erebia group of butterflies have a reputation for being “difficult”. To the beginner, they present as a large collection of rather similar-looking species, and even to those relatively experienced in European Lepidoptera, they can often be tricky to identify with absolute confidence. This is not helped by the fact that individuals within a species not only vary considerably in markings, but often also occur as local forms that differ in appearance from the type specimens. Add to this their habit of flying incessantly, rarely settling still, and even when they do sit, they frequently do so down in amongst grasses, and you see why they are hard work for photographers. Additionally, several Erebias occupy unfriendly habitat such as sheer scree slopes, rocky outcrops, and steep mountainsides. Having spent much of a recent ten-day trip pursuing these creatures in the French Pyrenees, I think the most charitable adjective that I can come up with for them is “challenging”, although I confess that I have at times used far less polite terms, and a fair few expletives have been directed at some particularly frustrating examples!
My wife and I have just returned from a thoroughly enjoyable three-base holiday, taking in the Hautes Pyrenees, with a brief detour into northern Spain in the middle of our trip. We arrived at our first accommodation in the lovely village of Saint Lary Soulan late afternoon on Thursday 7th July, and for the next two days we explored the Néouvielle National Nature Reserve.
Friday 8th July
I was on an Erebia-hunt, and they soon started to appear, throwing out all manner of identification challenges from the off. At the first location we visited, as soon as we got out of the car they were there, with Large Ringlet, Mountain Ringlet and Bright-eyed Ringlet the first three to be confirmed.
E.euryale
E.oeme
Twenty minutes later my wife shouted out to me – “Pete, this is different!” I always listen to her when she says things like this, and sure enough, in front of her was flying a smallish Erebia with a rather different “jizz”. It was flashing a deep metallic blue colour as the light caught it in flight, and I was pretty sure immediately that it was one of my main target species. It landed, I went in with my camera. Pyrenees Brassy Ringlet – my first new life tick this year, and a beauty! I would have been happy to see a normal example, but when my wife said “this is different” I am not sure she realised just how different, as this example was a most unusual asymmetric aberrant. The left upper-side forewing had the typical large fused double ocelli of this species, but the right upper forewing had just a single small ocellus.
E.rondoui aberration
More typical Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets followed.
E.rondoui
I had another particular target species here, but there was a risk that the early season would mean that False Dewy Ringlets were already over. We climbed up towards the high scree slopes, and an Erebia with a rather different flight-pattern appeared in front of me. It had a quite slow, bouncy flight, giving off an impression of a dullish grey underside, but although it was easy enough to follow, it was flying relentlessly. I chased several of these butterflies around in the heat for the best part of half an hour, after which time I was in three places at once; close to a cardiac arrest, a long way from the nearest defibrillator, and even further from getting a photograph! A change of tactics was required, so we stood still for a bit at 2250 metres above sea level. There was an area of about an acre where the scree joined the outcrops, and these butterflies seemed to like it. There was also a small patch of thyme with other nectar sources, and every now and then a butterfly would alight briefly. But they were hypersensitive to noise and vibration and very easily spooked; I could only manage a couple of very long distance shots. They are just “record” shots, but they confirm that we were indeed in the presence of the False Dewy Ringlet, life-tick number two for me.
E.sthennyo
Something else interesting was flying around the scree and rocks. It was dark in flight, but it was actually landing quite frequently. It needed investigating. I was lucky enough to get close to a couple of these and it turned out they were Lefebvre’s Ringlets, a species that I have only seen once before in the Picos de Europa, where they are of a different local form, so this was almost as good as getting another lifer.
E.lefebvrei
What a day! As well as the Erebias, other interesting finds included Mountain Clouded Yellow, Shepherd’s Fritillary, Olive Skipper and Large Wall Brown.
C.phicomone
B.pales
P.serratulae
L.maera
On the way back down from the scree slopes, a female False Dewy Ringlet dropped to the ground right in front of me.
E.sthennyo
Habitat of Lefebvre's and False Dewy Ringlet
Saturday 9th July
After the intensive butterflying of yesterday, we embarked on a more touristy itinerary today, climbing up from the Lac d’Oredon. It was busy with walkers, but very beautiful, and the highlight of the day was watching an enormous, fresh Camberwell Beauty soaring around a clearing amongst the pines. Apollos, Swallowtails, and a variety of Blues, Coppers and Fritillaries accompanied us on our meanderings.
Sunday 10th July
This morning, we headed east from Saint Lary Soulan in search of another species that would be a lifer for me if we found it. The weather was hotting up, so an early start seemed advisable, and paid off handsomely as we found Yellow-spotted Ringlet on the wing in excellent numbers. These were of the form constans, where the males are just about devoid of markings and the females have very reduced, but variable, “yellow” spots. Remarkably, they were quite amenable to being approached, frequently sitting still at nectar, much to my delight. We must have seen about 50 individuals all told, with other Erebias present, including Mountain Ringlet, Bright-eyed Ringlet and Large Ringlet.
E.manto f.constans
Habitat of Yellow-spotted Ringlet
PART TWO to follow
My wife and I have just returned from a thoroughly enjoyable three-base holiday, taking in the Hautes Pyrenees, with a brief detour into northern Spain in the middle of our trip. We arrived at our first accommodation in the lovely village of Saint Lary Soulan late afternoon on Thursday 7th July, and for the next two days we explored the Néouvielle National Nature Reserve.
Friday 8th July
I was on an Erebia-hunt, and they soon started to appear, throwing out all manner of identification challenges from the off. At the first location we visited, as soon as we got out of the car they were there, with Large Ringlet, Mountain Ringlet and Bright-eyed Ringlet the first three to be confirmed.
E.euryale
E.oeme
Twenty minutes later my wife shouted out to me – “Pete, this is different!” I always listen to her when she says things like this, and sure enough, in front of her was flying a smallish Erebia with a rather different “jizz”. It was flashing a deep metallic blue colour as the light caught it in flight, and I was pretty sure immediately that it was one of my main target species. It landed, I went in with my camera. Pyrenees Brassy Ringlet – my first new life tick this year, and a beauty! I would have been happy to see a normal example, but when my wife said “this is different” I am not sure she realised just how different, as this example was a most unusual asymmetric aberrant. The left upper-side forewing had the typical large fused double ocelli of this species, but the right upper forewing had just a single small ocellus.
E.rondoui aberration
More typical Pyrenees Brassy Ringlets followed.
E.rondoui
I had another particular target species here, but there was a risk that the early season would mean that False Dewy Ringlets were already over. We climbed up towards the high scree slopes, and an Erebia with a rather different flight-pattern appeared in front of me. It had a quite slow, bouncy flight, giving off an impression of a dullish grey underside, but although it was easy enough to follow, it was flying relentlessly. I chased several of these butterflies around in the heat for the best part of half an hour, after which time I was in three places at once; close to a cardiac arrest, a long way from the nearest defibrillator, and even further from getting a photograph! A change of tactics was required, so we stood still for a bit at 2250 metres above sea level. There was an area of about an acre where the scree joined the outcrops, and these butterflies seemed to like it. There was also a small patch of thyme with other nectar sources, and every now and then a butterfly would alight briefly. But they were hypersensitive to noise and vibration and very easily spooked; I could only manage a couple of very long distance shots. They are just “record” shots, but they confirm that we were indeed in the presence of the False Dewy Ringlet, life-tick number two for me.
E.sthennyo
Something else interesting was flying around the scree and rocks. It was dark in flight, but it was actually landing quite frequently. It needed investigating. I was lucky enough to get close to a couple of these and it turned out they were Lefebvre’s Ringlets, a species that I have only seen once before in the Picos de Europa, where they are of a different local form, so this was almost as good as getting another lifer.
E.lefebvrei
What a day! As well as the Erebias, other interesting finds included Mountain Clouded Yellow, Shepherd’s Fritillary, Olive Skipper and Large Wall Brown.
C.phicomone
B.pales
P.serratulae
L.maera
On the way back down from the scree slopes, a female False Dewy Ringlet dropped to the ground right in front of me.
E.sthennyo
Habitat of Lefebvre's and False Dewy Ringlet
Saturday 9th July
After the intensive butterflying of yesterday, we embarked on a more touristy itinerary today, climbing up from the Lac d’Oredon. It was busy with walkers, but very beautiful, and the highlight of the day was watching an enormous, fresh Camberwell Beauty soaring around a clearing amongst the pines. Apollos, Swallowtails, and a variety of Blues, Coppers and Fritillaries accompanied us on our meanderings.
Sunday 10th July
This morning, we headed east from Saint Lary Soulan in search of another species that would be a lifer for me if we found it. The weather was hotting up, so an early start seemed advisable, and paid off handsomely as we found Yellow-spotted Ringlet on the wing in excellent numbers. These were of the form constans, where the males are just about devoid of markings and the females have very reduced, but variable, “yellow” spots. Remarkably, they were quite amenable to being approached, frequently sitting still at nectar, much to my delight. We must have seen about 50 individuals all told, with other Erebias present, including Mountain Ringlet, Bright-eyed Ringlet and Large Ringlet.
E.manto f.constans
Habitat of Yellow-spotted Ringlet
PART TWO to follow
Last edited by petesmith on Fri Jul 22, 2022 12:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
PART TWO
Sunday 10th July continued
At midday we left the Yellow-spotted Ringlet site and headed back to Lary, then through the Aragnouet – Bielsa tunnel and into northern Spain, where the temperature was hitting the mid-thirties. We decided to take the back roads towards our next hotel in Sabinanigo, and found ourselves driving into the middle of nowhere along a seemingly endless, ever-winding road up into the hills. There were no houses or people, or even other road users, other than a group of cows that unexpectedly appeared in the middle of the road after a particularly tight bend. Eventually we stopped for a look around. I had seen a lot of butterfly activity around a bramble patch, and as we got out of the car we were amazed at the spectacle before us. There must have been in excess of five thousand butterflies flying around and nectaring on a line of bramble patches perhaps 50 metres in length.
Roadside habitat east of Sabaninago
I have rarely seen such a concentration of insect-life in one place. There were hundreds of Marbled Whites, including the form leucomelas, Spotted, Silver-washed and Weaver’s Fritillaries, Dusky Meadow Browns, Cleopatras, Pearly Heaths, Great-banded and Rock Grayling, but my eyes were seeking out blues, and one species in particular. A Ripart’s Anomalous Blue got my heart racing (still no defibrillator for miles).
M.galathea typical and f.leucomelas
H.lycaon
B.circe
P.riparti
Then something subtly different caught my eye. Another lifer – Catalonian (Forster’s) Furry Blue.
P.fulgens
The heat was by now excessive, and we reluctantly tore ourselves away from the bramble patch, promising to return tomorrow. The next three nights were spent in a friendly but uncomfortably warm hotel, in a room with no air-con.
Monday 11th July
We were keen to return to the bramble patch this morning, but on the way I wanted to visit a site that had been given to me (thanks Dave!) which was also supposedly good for the Furry Fellow fulgens. I needed a better shot than the ones that I got yesterday in the heat, ideally one of an open winged male…
This site looked nothing special when we pulled up and parked, just a rough bit of partly-gravelled roadside “wasteland” (I hate that word). But it turned out to be exceptional.
Habitat of Catalonian Furry Blue etc
Not only did we find more Catalonian Furry Blues, but one male generously showed off his fine upper-side for my camera. As an added bonus, we had an unexpected sighting of my favourite European female blue, Meleager’s Blue – always a pure pleasure to encounter. A great range of other blues were also on the wing, including Long-tailed, Common, Chapman’s, Green-underside, Turquoise and Chalkhill Blues, plus Olive, Southern Grizzled, Silver-spotted and Red Underwing Skippers, Iberian Scarce Swallowtail, Berger’s Clouded Yellow, Spanish Purple Hairstreak, Bath White, several species of Fritillary and numerous Rock Graylings, these being strongly attracted to our hire-car.
P.fulgens
P.daphnis
P.dorylas
I.feisthamelii
L.roboris
H.alcyone
A return visit to the bramble patch from yesterday produced thousands of butterflies - 37 species in the space of 50 metres – mesmerising. Once again, the heat got to us by early afternoon, so we went back to enjoy a beer and some tapas in an air-conditioned bar.
Tuesday 12th July
Today we returned to tourist mode and in a desperate attempt to get out of the by now rather unpleasant heat of the high 30s, we spent much of the day in a steep ravine walking up to a waterfall, where it was blissfully cool compared to most of the surrounding area. Silver-washed Fritillaries were also enjoying the shade here.
PART THREE to follow
Sunday 10th July continued
At midday we left the Yellow-spotted Ringlet site and headed back to Lary, then through the Aragnouet – Bielsa tunnel and into northern Spain, where the temperature was hitting the mid-thirties. We decided to take the back roads towards our next hotel in Sabinanigo, and found ourselves driving into the middle of nowhere along a seemingly endless, ever-winding road up into the hills. There were no houses or people, or even other road users, other than a group of cows that unexpectedly appeared in the middle of the road after a particularly tight bend. Eventually we stopped for a look around. I had seen a lot of butterfly activity around a bramble patch, and as we got out of the car we were amazed at the spectacle before us. There must have been in excess of five thousand butterflies flying around and nectaring on a line of bramble patches perhaps 50 metres in length.
Roadside habitat east of Sabaninago
I have rarely seen such a concentration of insect-life in one place. There were hundreds of Marbled Whites, including the form leucomelas, Spotted, Silver-washed and Weaver’s Fritillaries, Dusky Meadow Browns, Cleopatras, Pearly Heaths, Great-banded and Rock Grayling, but my eyes were seeking out blues, and one species in particular. A Ripart’s Anomalous Blue got my heart racing (still no defibrillator for miles).
M.galathea typical and f.leucomelas
H.lycaon
B.circe
P.riparti
Then something subtly different caught my eye. Another lifer – Catalonian (Forster’s) Furry Blue.
P.fulgens
The heat was by now excessive, and we reluctantly tore ourselves away from the bramble patch, promising to return tomorrow. The next three nights were spent in a friendly but uncomfortably warm hotel, in a room with no air-con.
Monday 11th July
We were keen to return to the bramble patch this morning, but on the way I wanted to visit a site that had been given to me (thanks Dave!) which was also supposedly good for the Furry Fellow fulgens. I needed a better shot than the ones that I got yesterday in the heat, ideally one of an open winged male…
This site looked nothing special when we pulled up and parked, just a rough bit of partly-gravelled roadside “wasteland” (I hate that word). But it turned out to be exceptional.
Habitat of Catalonian Furry Blue etc
Not only did we find more Catalonian Furry Blues, but one male generously showed off his fine upper-side for my camera. As an added bonus, we had an unexpected sighting of my favourite European female blue, Meleager’s Blue – always a pure pleasure to encounter. A great range of other blues were also on the wing, including Long-tailed, Common, Chapman’s, Green-underside, Turquoise and Chalkhill Blues, plus Olive, Southern Grizzled, Silver-spotted and Red Underwing Skippers, Iberian Scarce Swallowtail, Berger’s Clouded Yellow, Spanish Purple Hairstreak, Bath White, several species of Fritillary and numerous Rock Graylings, these being strongly attracted to our hire-car.
P.fulgens
P.daphnis
P.dorylas
I.feisthamelii
L.roboris
H.alcyone
A return visit to the bramble patch from yesterday produced thousands of butterflies - 37 species in the space of 50 metres – mesmerising. Once again, the heat got to us by early afternoon, so we went back to enjoy a beer and some tapas in an air-conditioned bar.
Tuesday 12th July
Today we returned to tourist mode and in a desperate attempt to get out of the by now rather unpleasant heat of the high 30s, we spent much of the day in a steep ravine walking up to a waterfall, where it was blissfully cool compared to most of the surrounding area. Silver-washed Fritillaries were also enjoying the shade here.
PART THREE to follow
Last edited by petesmith on Fri Jul 22, 2022 12:51 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
PART THREE
Wednesday 13th July
It was time to drive back north through the tunnel and return to France for the final third of our trip. The drive took us over the Col du Tourmalet, which was very busy with cyclists, camper-vans and tourists. A brief stop at the top of the col produced an unexpected sighting of a high-altitude Camberwell Beauty, but it wasn’t stopping for a photograph. We reached our next home base in Luz St. Saveur, where we were staying for three nights, early in the afternoon, and from here we drove up the Ossoue valley towards the Lac du Barrage d’Ossoue, along a narrow winding road that turned into a stone track. Here I was hoping to track down Gavarnie Ringlet, but every Erebia that I could get close enough to identify turned out to be Piedmont Ringlet. In fact this particular species seemed to be the default Erebia just about everywhere we went around here.
E.meolans
Some mud-puddling was going on, and I was delighted to be able to find and photograph Marbled Skipper. For some reason, I have only seen Marbled Skippers on one or two occasions in south-east France, and I only noticed recently that I don’t have a single photograph in my collection, so I was keen to rectify that deficiency during this trip. I hadn’t seen one for years, then three turned up at once!
C.lavatherae
And then even more appeared.
C.lavatherae
Lafranchis says in Papillons de France that this species is usually observed as isolated individuals. I don’t think most of the local Marbled Skippers have read his book, but perhaps this individual has a copy tucked away somewhere...
C.lavatherae
Some interesting Blues were also down at the mud, including both Glandon and Gavarnie Blues, great to see these two species side by side, and these were my first ever French Gavarnie Blues; I have only seen the northern Spanish form before.
A.glandon and A.pyrenaicus
A.pyrenaicus
A.glandon
Thursday 14th July and Friday 15th July
We spent the next two days hiking up in the mountains, visiting some stunning places such as the Lac des Gloriettes, the Col des Tentes and the Cirque de Gavarnie. We walked for miles, burned up lots of calories, and got a few sore muscles in the process of climbing up and down mountainsides and scrambling over boulders. The butterflies were delightful in some areas, very disappointing in others. This part of the Pyrenees is sadly suffering from some rather savage over-grazing and many areas that could be rich in wildlife are nothing more than livestock prairies, with numerous cows and sheep. This “surpaturage” goes on, even within areas of the supposedly protected national parks, and is bordering on the criminal, but there remain some rich locations.
Lac des Gloriettes
Above Col des Tentes
In places that haven’t been bludgeoned by beasts, flower-rich meadows and hillsides persist, and here the butterfly fauna is rich, diverse and fabulous.
P.apollo
M.didyma mating pair
L.alciphron
B.ino
Saturday 16th July
Saturday was our final day out here. We were booked into the Ibis Budget hotel at Biarritz for the night as we had an early flight home on Sunday morning. Although I had picked up four life-ticks and re-connected with a couple of “near-lifers” that I had only previously seem once or twice, there was still one target species that we hadn’t seen –Gavarnie Ringlet. We still had time for one last trip, but where should we go? I opted to return to the Ossoue valley site near the end of the road.
On arrival we spotted a couple of people with cameras, meandering on the scree- slopes. They looked suspiciously like fellow Lepidopterists. One approached me. “Papillons?” he asked. “Oui, papillons” I confirmed, before we realised that we were in fact both English! By pure coincidence, it turned out that we had met up with a group of fellow UK Butterfliers in the form of Paul Selby, David Moore, John Vergo, and a couple of others whose names I must apologise for having forgotten. They too had been on an Erebia-hunt over recent days, so we had plenty to discuss. At David’s suggestion, we returned to the Col des Tentes for one final search for the elusive Gavarnie Ringlet. We might have seen one, we might not. There were Erebias flying, but absolutely nothing was landing. We had to admit defeat on the gorgone front, but there were no complaints after a fantastic 10 night trip, with four new life-ticks in the bag, and we drove back happily to Biarritz as the mercury climbed to the late 30s once again. Wildfires were raging not far to the north of us, Europe was burning again, but on a purely selfish note, for the first time all holiday we had an air-conditioned room. It was paradise!
Easyjet managed to get us back into Gatwick a few minutes early, and the three and a half hour drive home flew by. We were home, with some great new memories and just one slight disappointment missing out on the Gavarnie Ringlet, but that just means that I shall have to return one day to this beautiful part of the world. If anyone spots any errors in identification, please let me know - I am more than happy to receive corrections!
Wednesday 13th July
It was time to drive back north through the tunnel and return to France for the final third of our trip. The drive took us over the Col du Tourmalet, which was very busy with cyclists, camper-vans and tourists. A brief stop at the top of the col produced an unexpected sighting of a high-altitude Camberwell Beauty, but it wasn’t stopping for a photograph. We reached our next home base in Luz St. Saveur, where we were staying for three nights, early in the afternoon, and from here we drove up the Ossoue valley towards the Lac du Barrage d’Ossoue, along a narrow winding road that turned into a stone track. Here I was hoping to track down Gavarnie Ringlet, but every Erebia that I could get close enough to identify turned out to be Piedmont Ringlet. In fact this particular species seemed to be the default Erebia just about everywhere we went around here.
E.meolans
Some mud-puddling was going on, and I was delighted to be able to find and photograph Marbled Skipper. For some reason, I have only seen Marbled Skippers on one or two occasions in south-east France, and I only noticed recently that I don’t have a single photograph in my collection, so I was keen to rectify that deficiency during this trip. I hadn’t seen one for years, then three turned up at once!
C.lavatherae
And then even more appeared.
C.lavatherae
Lafranchis says in Papillons de France that this species is usually observed as isolated individuals. I don’t think most of the local Marbled Skippers have read his book, but perhaps this individual has a copy tucked away somewhere...
C.lavatherae
Some interesting Blues were also down at the mud, including both Glandon and Gavarnie Blues, great to see these two species side by side, and these were my first ever French Gavarnie Blues; I have only seen the northern Spanish form before.
A.glandon and A.pyrenaicus
A.pyrenaicus
A.glandon
Thursday 14th July and Friday 15th July
We spent the next two days hiking up in the mountains, visiting some stunning places such as the Lac des Gloriettes, the Col des Tentes and the Cirque de Gavarnie. We walked for miles, burned up lots of calories, and got a few sore muscles in the process of climbing up and down mountainsides and scrambling over boulders. The butterflies were delightful in some areas, very disappointing in others. This part of the Pyrenees is sadly suffering from some rather savage over-grazing and many areas that could be rich in wildlife are nothing more than livestock prairies, with numerous cows and sheep. This “surpaturage” goes on, even within areas of the supposedly protected national parks, and is bordering on the criminal, but there remain some rich locations.
Lac des Gloriettes
Above Col des Tentes
In places that haven’t been bludgeoned by beasts, flower-rich meadows and hillsides persist, and here the butterfly fauna is rich, diverse and fabulous.
P.apollo
M.didyma mating pair
L.alciphron
B.ino
Saturday 16th July
Saturday was our final day out here. We were booked into the Ibis Budget hotel at Biarritz for the night as we had an early flight home on Sunday morning. Although I had picked up four life-ticks and re-connected with a couple of “near-lifers” that I had only previously seem once or twice, there was still one target species that we hadn’t seen –Gavarnie Ringlet. We still had time for one last trip, but where should we go? I opted to return to the Ossoue valley site near the end of the road.
On arrival we spotted a couple of people with cameras, meandering on the scree- slopes. They looked suspiciously like fellow Lepidopterists. One approached me. “Papillons?” he asked. “Oui, papillons” I confirmed, before we realised that we were in fact both English! By pure coincidence, it turned out that we had met up with a group of fellow UK Butterfliers in the form of Paul Selby, David Moore, John Vergo, and a couple of others whose names I must apologise for having forgotten. They too had been on an Erebia-hunt over recent days, so we had plenty to discuss. At David’s suggestion, we returned to the Col des Tentes for one final search for the elusive Gavarnie Ringlet. We might have seen one, we might not. There were Erebias flying, but absolutely nothing was landing. We had to admit defeat on the gorgone front, but there were no complaints after a fantastic 10 night trip, with four new life-ticks in the bag, and we drove back happily to Biarritz as the mercury climbed to the late 30s once again. Wildfires were raging not far to the north of us, Europe was burning again, but on a purely selfish note, for the first time all holiday we had an air-conditioned room. It was paradise!
Easyjet managed to get us back into Gatwick a few minutes early, and the three and a half hour drive home flew by. We were home, with some great new memories and just one slight disappointment missing out on the Gavarnie Ringlet, but that just means that I shall have to return one day to this beautiful part of the world. If anyone spots any errors in identification, please let me know - I am more than happy to receive corrections!
Last edited by petesmith on Thu Jul 28, 2022 12:04 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
Fantastic garden read Pete , as I attempt to escape the London heat. I am already eagerly anticipating next summer before this one is over
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
Thanks Andy. I don't envy you being in London in this weather! I too am thinking ahead and formulating plans for next year already...
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
Great report Pete.
And it was lovely to meet you also! It is a small world!
And it was lovely to meet you also! It is a small world!
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
Thanks Paul. It was indeed a remarkable coincidence that we were all on that particular hillside at the same time on the same day, and nice to put some faces to some familiar names, such as yourself!
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
Great report, Pete, and it was good to bump into you and your wife on that afternoon you mention.
Very envious of your sthennyo and particularly your lefebvrei, but sad you didn't nail gorgone, which we found fairly regularly on the high ground.
Agree very much about the over-grazing. It's quite depressing to see it so widely in this otherwise beautiful region. It was interesting to note that the path to Boucharo was fenced off to stop livestock getting on it, yet Col des Tentes itself was a free-for-all for ruminants.
A little foresight is required in certain places in the Hautes Pyrenees to keep small sections of terrain free from habitat destruction. Don't hold your breath though....farmers round these parts seem to get their own way most if not all of the time.![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
Very envious of your sthennyo and particularly your lefebvrei, but sad you didn't nail gorgone, which we found fairly regularly on the high ground.
Agree very much about the over-grazing. It's quite depressing to see it so widely in this otherwise beautiful region. It was interesting to note that the path to Boucharo was fenced off to stop livestock getting on it, yet Col des Tentes itself was a free-for-all for ruminants.
A little foresight is required in certain places in the Hautes Pyrenees to keep small sections of terrain free from habitat destruction. Don't hold your breath though....farmers round these parts seem to get their own way most if not all of the time.
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
Thanks David. It is interesting how we had completely different experiences with gorgone - but it's a good excuse for me to go back one day and try again!
I too was particularly delighted to manage to get close up to lefebvrei on several occasions. There were three or four flying at one site and they were - unusually, in my very limited experience with this species previously in the Picos - relatively approachable. One example was particularly friendly, and quite fresh! It is quite a striking Erebia![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
I too was particularly delighted to manage to get close up to lefebvrei on several occasions. There were three or four flying at one site and they were - unusually, in my very limited experience with this species previously in the Picos - relatively approachable. One example was particularly friendly, and quite fresh! It is quite a striking Erebia
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
You did real well to be able to approach this species close enough for those images, Pete.petesmith wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 7:15 am...I too was particularly delighted to manage to get close up to lefebvrei on several occasions. There were three or four flying at one site and they were - unusually, in my very limited experience with this species previously in the Picos - relatively approachable. One example was particularly friendly, and quite fresh! It is quite a striking Erebia
On Tourmalet, we saw plenty of candidates, but the ones we got close to all turned out to be meolans.
- Roger Gibbons
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Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
Just catching up with this thread - great result to get sthennyo and lefebvrei - two of the most elusive species of the Pyrenees or anywhere else for that matter.
I have not seen gorgone since 2017 (I go to the Pyrenees in odd-numbered years - and didn't see one in 2019 or 2021), so maybe it is becoming more difficult to find.
I counted over 50 lavatherae at that site - Medard I think had the same experience - so clearly M. Lafranchis has never been there.
You also did well to avoid the Alps and central France where the insanely early season, absence of rainfall and now the canicule (36C every day) means that the season has already been effectively over for some time.
Roger
I have not seen gorgone since 2017 (I go to the Pyrenees in odd-numbered years - and didn't see one in 2019 or 2021), so maybe it is becoming more difficult to find.
I counted over 50 lavatherae at that site - Medard I think had the same experience - so clearly M. Lafranchis has never been there.
You also did well to avoid the Alps and central France where the insanely early season, absence of rainfall and now the canicule (36C every day) means that the season has already been effectively over for some time.
Roger
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
We found quite a few gorgone on the slopes immediately below Col du Tourmalet, although the levels of over-grazing meant that they were flying in the steep combes where the streams flow (these were just about the only areas not destroyed by livestock).
There were also a few around on the grassy hills by the car park at Col des Tentes.
There were also a few around on the grassy hills by the car park at Col des Tentes.
Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
Thanks Roger. It has been a crazy season all round for European butterflying. I started off in SW Spain in late April where the season was running late by at least 7 to 10 days. By the time I reached Doubs and Cote d'Or in eastern France in early June, things had accelerated rapidly and everything was on the wing early. And the Pyrenees was a mixture of early and late, mostly early, but with species such as sthennyo still on the wing later than you would perhaps have expected this season. No two years are ever the same!Roger Gibbons wrote: ↑Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:08 am Just catching up with this thread - great result to get sthennyo and lefebvrei - two of the most elusive species of the Pyrenees or anywhere else for that matter.
You also did well to avoid the Alps and central France where the insanely early season, absence of rainfall and now the canicule (36C every day) means that the season has already been effectively over for some time.
Roger
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Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
great repport Pete, and glad to meet you ![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
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Re: Erebia-hunting in the Pyrenees, and other stories.
Thanks John - it was a pleasure to meet you also!